ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO ENTRE CORRELACIONES EMPÍRICAS Y MODELOS MECANÍSTICOS PARA FLUJO MULTIFÁSICO EN POZOS HORIZONTALES DE INYECCIÓN DE VAPOR

• Main Authors: Gustavo Rojas Sosa, Manuel Cabarcas Simancas
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad Industrial de Santander 2011-12-01
• Series: Revista Fuentes El Reventón Energético
• Subjects: mechanistic models; steam injection; horizontal wells; flow patterns.
• Online Access: https://scienti.colciencias.gov.co/publindex/EnArticulo/all.do?cod_fasciculo=10

he steam injection in horizontal wells has great applicability to heavy oil reservoirs. However, one of the challenges of this technology is the prediction of the profiles of pressure, temperature and vapor quality along the well. For over 30 years, empirical correlations were used to determine these profiles, which have errors close to ± 30%. In recent years there has been greater emphasis on mechanistic models, allowing hydraulic profiles get more adjusted to reality and further predict the flow patterns that occur in the pipes. This paper evaluates the performance of three mechanistic models and five correlations commonly used to predict the pressure gradient in two-phase flow (wet steam), with application to horizontal wells, consisting of a vertical pipe section and other horizontal pipe section. The pressure gradient calculated with each model is compared with the experimental pressure gradient taken from two cases reported in the literature. We present error estimates of the pressure gradient measured versus calculated for each model. In the evaluation, two studied mechanistic models obtained lower mean absolute error of 10%.